


never fallen from quite this high

by lesbinej



Series: tumblr kiss prompts [8]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: + character exploration for karolina a little, F/F, Mild Hurt/Comfort, except shes not even hurt dskjhsfkjsdfsfd, protective!Nico
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 03:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16467473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbinej/pseuds/lesbinej
Summary: anonymous asked: can i get... uh... a #46 gertchase. and also a #50 deanoru. thanks sexy!50: ...out of love(title from ocean eyes/billie eilish) (if ur reading deanoru fic u know that but im just getting that out of the way ok)





	never fallen from quite this high

Nico wishes Karolina wasn't so… Karolina, sometimes. She’s gorgeous, a little bit reckless, a little bit desperate to prove herself, and a  _ lot  _ loving. 

Which usually turns into Nico finding her floating around somewhere dangerous because she wanted to impress Nico. She’d think it was cute, honestly (and she did, at first), but by the third or fourth time she caught Karolina flying thirty feet off the ground because she  _ really  _ wanted to show Nico the cool flowers growing at the top of a tree, it became nerve-wracking and worrying. Karolina doesn't know how to control her powers yet, and Nico doesn't know how she’ll deal with Karolina getting hurt because of her.

Nico’s tried voicing these concerns, of course. A small, mumbled, “You scared me,” into Karolina’s shoulder after the first time. A quiet, “Please don’t scare me like that,” after the second. A whispered, barely-there-at-all, “I wish you’d be more careful,” after the hundredth time. Karolina laughs a little each time, holding Nico tighter with both arms, whatever flowers she'd picked falling to the wayside as Nico holds her tightly, scared that if she lets go, Karolina might float away again.

“I’m fine,” she’ll say. Or sometimes, “Being careful isn't any fun, though. I’ve been careful my whole life.” 

_ So why stop now?  _ Nico wants to ask, but she knows the answer. Karolina’s relishing in her newfound freedom, and Nico can't blame her. She just wishes she'd have half the sense to temper her revelling with a healthy dose of caution. Because maybe flying thirty feet in the air might scare the shit out of your girlfriend.

But Karolina will not be stopped, and Nico certainly won’t be the one to tell her no, so she just bites her tongue down whenever Karolina starts doing dangerous things. Except pretty soon, Nico’s following Karolina everywhere, arms ready to catch her lest she fall, heart in her throat when Karolina wobbles, and shaking hands checking her over for bruises pretty much every night, careful, searching eyes prying for any signs of injury or hurt. 

“I’m fine,” Karolina protests, as she usually does. Nico shakes her head, running her hands down Karolina’s arms—which isn’t hard, since Karolina’s elbows are propped on Nico’s shoulders, and Nico’s trying  _ really  _ hard not to kiss her right now. 

“Does this hurt?” Nico asks. It’s Karolina’s turn to shake her head.

“No. I’m fine, I didn’t even wobble when I flew back down,” Karolina insists, and Nico has to stop herself from arguing, saying  _ you shouldn’t have been a hundred feet in the air in the first place, nobody should,  _ but she just nods in acceptance. 

“That’s good. I’m glad you’re making progress.”

“I am,” Karolina says with a lazy grin on her face. “It’s a lot of fun.”

“Is that right?” Nico’s rubbing her hands along Karolina’s hips, her legs, pressing on every tender spot to ensure there’s no bruises forming. Karolina hums, pleased.

“ _ Ah _ , not there, not there,” Karolina hisses, wincing when Nico’s hands skim over a sore spot on her thigh. Nico purses her lips.

“What happened?”

“I bumped into the table, actually.” Karolina rolls her eyes, wiggling her hips a little as she stretches her back and smiles a little lopsided at Nico. Nico’s watching her, watching her face that’s only ever this close to eye level with her own when Karolina’s sitting—and her heart swells with affection. God, she loves Karolina.

Except she’s never said that before. Karolina hasn’t said it either.

Now worried, Nico goes back to checking for injuries, but she’s almost done with that and found none at all, save for the bruise from her nasty fight with the kitchen table.

“Uh huh,” Nico says.

“It’s true! I was getting my coffee this morning, and I swear, someone moved it because it was just  _ there,  _ where it wasn’t supposed to be, and I bumped right into it.”

“Or I’m just dating the clumsiest person ever,” Nico muses, pressing her fingertips into Karolina’s kneecaps. “You wonder why I worry about you.”

“No, I don’t,” Karolina says softly, and it makes Nico look up at her, startled. She’s looking at her with a tender, affectionate look, and Nico can’t help but blush under her girlfriend’s gentle gaze. “It’s because I’m stupid, and you don’t want me to get hurt.”

“...Yeah,” Nico manages, because there’s no way she can be articulate when Karolina’s close enough to kiss and her arms are still around Nico’s neck, and Nico’s trying not to kiss her and trying to finish up (except there’s nothing left to check, and now Nico’s just standing here). Karolina cocks her head to the side.

“Are you done?”

“Yeah, I am,” Nico says, but she doesn’t move. She can’t move when Karolina looks so gorgeous, so sweet, so  _ Karolina  _ when she’s perched on the kitchen counter like that. Nico feels like an electric shock goes through her when Karolina’s foot hooks around her thigh, effectively pulling Nico even closer. Then, she doesn’t mind at all when Karolina presses their lips together in a warm, gentle kiss that Nico all but melts into. Her fingers curl on Karolina’s thighs as she relaxes into the kiss. This is  _ right.  _

Karolina leans back a little, and Nico follows, chasing her lips, chasing the feeling of the kiss that she never wants to come down from. Their lips break apart, and Karolina takes a deep breath in.

“I love you,” Nico blurts, before she can think, before she even opens her eyes. She’s not sure she even said it aloud from how quiet the whisper was, but when her eyelids flutter open, she sees Karolina looking down at her with an enamored smile on her face.

“I love you, too,” Karolina whispers back. 

Karolina  _ loves  _ her. The words feel like a healing salve, they feel like fireworks, they feel intoxicating. They feel like home, and sunlight, and the feeling of moonlight on a pier—they feel like the ocean that Nico wants to drown in. And Nico’s too drunken on that feeling to really care that she kisses Karolina sloppily, like one of their first kisses—too enamored with running her hands up Karolina’s sides, too content with just breathing Karolina in and knowing she’ll never get tired of that scent of warm vanilla and cinnamon. 

“Just promise me you’ll be more careful,” Nico mumbles. Karolina laughs—a little breathless, a little dreamily, and making Nico fall a little bit more in love. 

“Okay,” she says.

“Okay?” Nico blinks.

“Yeah. I’ll be careful.”

Nico grins against Karolina’s lips. Maybe sometimes, Nico wishes Karolina weren’t so Karolina, but she wouldn’t have anyone else in the world. 

 


End file.
